Sunday, 02 March 2014

You can hear their new 'longform single' "Land of the Blind", coming out March 4th, 2014 on HAKATAK International, on YouTube.
…

Our special guest on W♥M Radio is Paul Robb from Information Society!

Information Society is back with the original lineup of Paul Robb (synths), Kurt Larson (vocals) and James Cassidy (bass, keyboards). Their upcoming album _Hello World is coming out Summer 2014 on HAKATAK International. The preceding single, "Land of the Blind" is out this week (March 4th).

It takes too long to transcribe all of Paul's answers, so these are just excerpts to get the point across:

1. The self-titled Information Society album and Hack was a departure in your sound. Why was it so different?
I get what you're saying. Keeping in mind that you came at them in the reverse order that they were created in, it might seem stranger to you than it was...
A lot of what came out of the recording session of Hack, was our take on what we had been exposed over the last two or three years after we moved from Minneapolis to New York ... In '87, the whole band moved and we were suddenly officially New Yorkers, and I think that stew, and mixture of influences and sounds that we were exposed to in New York was very influential in making that potpourri kind of vibe that Hack has. And in terms of house beats, that we were just responding to what we've been exposed in the clubs.

2. Were you guys all into computers in the 90s?Yeah, that was the essence of the band... we were always interested in the intersection between technology and humanity and the intersection between one human being and another human being and also the intersection between individual and society as a whole. It's those intermediate gray area that will always be interesting to us.
We just happened to be around when the pace of technological evolution really started to speed up in the media and all aspect of life.

We started our life as a band as a media critique band. If you listen to our very earliest stuff, it was all complaining about television, and, you know, news media and things like that. Really what we were getting at was just how society mirrors itself through technology. That through line hasn't changed at all. Obviously when we started getting radio hits, we had to sort of fit ourselves in that template for pop consumption, but, you know, that too was part of the gag.

3. Cristina, one of my writers, wanted to know about the freestyle tour (without Kurt Harland). What was that like? And what was it like to reunite back with Kurt?It's probably a more accurate to say when there was a time that that none of us were interested in pop music. We all off exploring our own interests and Kurt was doing his computer audio-thing and I was doing my music for TV. And we are still doing those things.

We got together to do a couple of shows in 2005, kind of like New York radio station shows. We hadn't played together in such a long that it was kind of fun.
Enough time has elapsed that it didn't seem like 'oh god, we got to play those songs again', it was more like 'that's great, we get play those songs again!!'.

When I finally got around to writing some of the tracks [for the album Synthesizer], Kurt had just had a brand new baby and just gotten in this huge video game project that would over a year to complete. He was like, 'I can't really take the time to do another record right now.' And I said, 'I'm going to do it anyway', and he said 'that was fine, I don't care.' And he did fly in to do a couple of tracks.

We didn't really tour on that record. We played a couple of shows, y'know out of the country in Brazil or Mexico. It wasn't like a tour or anything. It was interesting experience to have the band without Kurt. But soon as he was available again, that it was the obvious choice for Kurt to be the singer again.

4. Why do you think your music translate so well in foreign countries, particularly Brazil and Japan? Brazil, in particular, is our biggest market. I can't really answer. My stock answer is, 'they have excellent tastes in music'.

5. Tell me about HAKATAK International and also Think Tank.Think Tank came about as a pseudonym for our band name. Our record label, Tommy Boy, wanted it to be an underground thing leading up to Hack. These tracks are instrumental, so let's just come up with a different name. So we came up with 'Think Tank'...

6. Explain the new single "Land of the Blind" and the b-side "Me And My Rhythm Box", coming out this week on HAKATAK International.It's not going to sound like "Me And My Rhythm Box", that was just a fun cover we wanted to do in homage to that horrible/awesome movie Liquid Sky.
"Land of the Blind" is probably our most traditional-sounding of all the songs in our upcoming record. That's one of the reason why we decided to release it as the first single. It's been a long time since the three of us have worked together to produce music as Information Society.

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

A few things why this album is important to me. It was my first compact disc ever so it spent a lot of time on my CD player (since I didn't really own a lot of other albums). …

There are a couple of things on news.weheartmusic.com this week that I'm super excited about. Since there are a million news item, I actually just going to highlight some bands. This week's theme is synth-y music.

I'm actually really excited about hearing this. Information Society is back with a new album. It's said to be a return to the "classic" sound of their debut album (the one with the massive hit song, "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)").

You can hear their new 'longform single' "Land of the Blind", coming out March 4th, 2014 on HAKATAK International, on YouTube.

As much as I love their debut album, personally, between you and me, I am more keen on their Hack album. The reason is because this was my very first Compact Disc and I listened to this all the time at that time period. As you can see, the album made it on my top ten greatest albums.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to checking out their new album _Hello World, which is set to for Summer 2014. As of this writing, I don't have any album or single artwork to show you. This is still early days, be sure to check back for more information on Information Society.

I saw these guys last year, when they were touring for their Danse Macabre album. Having already seen them a couple of other times, I have to say that this is a great band live. They know their fanbase, they play the hits, but they are not afraid to experiment as well.

The Faint just announced their sixth album Doom Abuse, set for April 8 via SQE Music. Of course, they're also returning on the road in support of the new record.

I cannot speak for the other venues, but just looking at the Minneapolis date, this is a smaller-sized venue (The Fine Line Music Cafe). This will likely sell out in no time, so if you're a Faint fan, do yourself a favor and buy a ticket now. You'll thank me later when it sells out.

Jessy Lanza sold out most of her headlining in January. Like so many bands currently on the road, they are really on their way to Austin's massive SXSW music festival (this year registering over 2,200 official bands).

After SXSW, you can catch Jessy Lanza on tour with synth/dance band Cut/Copy. Lanza will be playing tracks from her debut record, Pull My Hair Back, was released in September 2013 on Hyperdub.

Saturday, 25 January 2014

Radiohead was called On A Friday in 1995 because that's when they met to rehearse.
Oasis originally named themselves after a Beatles song called "The Rain" …

Inspired by Emily's post about her top ten greatest album of all time, this is my own personal top ten.

I have to explain many of these albums, because they aren't automatically great to everyone, but they are important albums that shaped me. It's organized by year, and apology in advance for all the Britpop music. There should be a subcategory of top ten greatest Britpop...

Harry Chapin - Greatest Stories Live (1976)

Greatest Stories Live

Elektra

Basically the closest thing to a greatest hits album, since I don't believe he ever approved a best of collection. Chapin died in 1981, so all of his albums never gracefully made their way to digital. If you wanted to legally buy his music online pre-2005, it was impossible. Fans enjoyed his music on vinyl and cassettes, and eventually on CD when the format became popular in the early 90s. I picked up Greatest Stories Live because it was one of the very few albums that was released on CD. Remember that the move from analog to digital didn't happen overnight.

Smiths - The Queen is Dead (1986)

The Queen is Dead

Sire

NME called this album "Greatest Albums of All Time", and I can't say I disagree. This is such a great album, because it is one of those albums that I know all the words to. There are no bad songs on this album and it is the perfect blend between instrumental guitar work by Johnny Marr and the witty lyrics of Morrissey.

Information Society - Hack (1990)

Hack

Tommy Boy

A few things why this album is important to me. It was my first compact disc ever so it spent a lot of time on my CD player (since I didn't really own a lot of other albums). This album was not on anyone's radar. It's such a great album as a whole, the whole theme of hacking and computers were really ahead of their time. They were originally from Minneapolis.

Oasis - Definitely Maybe (1994)

Definitely Maybe

Creation

Possibly the greatest rock and roll album. Met and interview Liam Gallagher in 1995. Saw them at a tiny venue in Sacramento. Did they stand the test of time? Probably not, if you talk to young people today, they probably have no idea who Oasis is. But for a time, the brothers Gallagher were shining so bright that they claimed to be bigger than the Beatles (probably a joke referring to Beatles claiming they were bigger than Jesus) ...

Pulp - Different Class (1995)

Different Class

Islands

So many great songs on this album, from their hit "Common People", to the revenge "I Spy", to the dance favorite "Disco 2000", to kinkiness "Underwear". Love Jarvis Cocker and his wonderful songwriting. I have bought this album three times. Lost to lending it to a friend, lost to car break in, but I'm never long without the album. Like an old friend.

New Order - Best of New Order (1995)

Best of New Order

Qwest Records

New Order were one of those bands that broke up long before I got into music, so my introduction to their music was through their Best Of album. I liked them enough to track down their previous releases, up until Republic. And although that album was good, but there are some lows on that album that felt uneven for me. So picking a favorite New Order album, I have to go with the greatest hits album simply because it collects the best songs. Also, "Regret" is New Order's finest hour.

Sleeper - The It Girl (1996)

The It Girl

Indolent

No one loves Sleeper as much as I do. I own all of Sleeper's singles and albums. Their second album was a slightly superior to their debut Smart album, even though all the singles leading up to the debut album was wonderful. The It Girl's US tracklisting order was different (and missing one track), so I own the UK and US version of this album ... plus the 12" and 10-inch vinyl. Sleeper broke up in 1997, glad I didn't get a Sleeper tattoo.

Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

OK Computer

Capitol

I actually forgotten about how much I love Radiohead in my original list. The reason why is that I am no longer such a massive fan. OK Computer and The Bends were the albums that I loved in this time period. During The Bends period, I got to interview Phil Selway live on air on KFSR 90.7. Wow, still can't believe it. Sadly to say, as much as I love Radiohead, I feel no need to rush out to get whatever new albums simply because their music style has changed over the years. Some people say evolved, I say regress!!

Belle & Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap (1998)

The Boy with the Arab Strap

Jeepster

Most people would pick If You're Feeling Sinister, but I prefer Arab Strap. B&S can do no wrong, up until Catastrophe Waitress and Life Pursuit, of course. I'm not happy with the "Christian" direction they're heading in, but they are still a great band.

Deltron 3030 (2001)

Deltron 3030

Ark

Del, Kid Koala, and Dan the Automator. What a great concept album, and I don't even like rap music! That is saying something, because it transcend music genre, and if a so-called 'rap' album can be on my favorite list, that is saying something to the quality of the music.

Obviously lots of bands that I left off my list: Lucksmiths, They Might Be Giants, Red Hot and Blues, Julee Cruise, Air Supply (don't ask), ABBA, Baxendale, Momus, Camera Obscura, Bikini Kill, Pogues, Franz Ferdinand, Flight of the Conchords, Pet Shop Boys, Elastica, Echobelly, The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder, Looper, Trainspotting, etc. There are a lot of bands albums so restricting it to 10 was hard.

Ours stopped by Minneapolis' 400 Bar as part of their Ballet the Boxer tour.

Kids of Comets

There were two opener bands, which I did not catch the first act. Kids of Comets closed out the show. The Kids played rock and they had a great light setup, which was synced to their beats. I didn't know much about the band, but I know for certain they played "Boys Will Be Boys".

Confession: Amy and I saw Ours at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis about ten years ago. What I can tell you back then was the show was packed and singer Jimmy Gnecco loved being photographed. He's singing into people's camera, he's hanging off the ceiling, he's jumping into the crowd. The guy was a born performer.

Seeing Ours (with their current roster) last night, I can report back that the band is still solid! Gnecco still has that incredible voice. To me, singers who stressed their vocals like Gnecco can demonstrate live - they don't last long as singers.

As you can see from their set list, they did songs from the first two albums, Distorted Lullabies and Precious, as sort of bookends. The middle of their set is mostly from Mercy with songs like "Murder", "Black", and "Saint". You also got "Bells", which was from Gnecco's solo album, Heart.

Clearly the fans favorite songs came from the debut album, "Fallen Souls", which they closed out the set.

Personally, because I am a huge Information Society fan, I absolutely loved their cover version of "Running". It was more harder and less synth, but that's just what that song needed. Since Information Society started in Minneapolis, this song held a special meaning for me.

Anyway, Ours are currently on their summer tour. They are doing a few dates with the legendary Peter Murphy, so lucky you if you live in those area.

Thursday, 10 May 2012

Meet Emily, the girl who fell in love with The Replacements and moved to Minneapolis in stalking pursuit of Paul Westerberg. Her first show at "the legendary" First Avenue, it was an all-ages show for Built to Spill, while her first cassette purchased was for Dionne Warwick and The Four Tops. Who doesn't love oldies and Motown?

The main focus of the show is Mark Lanegan and his latest album, Blues Funeral, which came out February 2012, via 4AD. This is the first Mark Lanegan Band album since 2004's Bubblegum.

You might know Lanegan as the lead singer of the 90s band Screaming Trees, but he's become known more and more as successful solo artist. His collaboration list is also quite diverse, being in Queens of the Stone Age, The Gutter Twins (with Greg Dulli), and Isobel Campbell (of Belle & Sebastian).

Song of the show is Mark Lanegan Band's "Ode to Sade Disco".

He's currently on tour, Amy & Emily will be seeing him at the Cedar in Minneapolis.

PLUS:
I have a sad, sad, sad love for Wilson Phillips. This was my first cassette purchased at the Wherehouse (Blackstone location) in Fresno, California. The trio is back, and with a new covers album, Dedicated. Check out their live performance of "Good Vibration" via youtube.com. Wendy looks great!

BONUS: Things taken out of context: Emily's rant on the industry failing to grow out of the 60s, Paul Westerberg is a big Twins fan, "Kurt's dead, that's great!", "I'm Vu, Vu-me!". Falsetto, explained… which lead to Jeff Hanson (yes that song I used is by Jeff Hanson!). Emily's first cassingle was Salt-N-Pepa's "Ain't Nuthin' But A She Thing" and Vu was "How Long" by Information Society (that was 1991, I bought the CD Single later on as an upgrade). The cassingle played the same on both side A & B, you can see a scan of the cover here (along with "Think").

Friday, 15 August 2008

A while back, in a discussion with a fellow W♥M writer, I told him that I've always liked "themed" posts. One of my idea was to do a special kitchen utensils article, about bands' names involving 'spoon' or 'fork' or 'knife'. At the time, it sounded really cool, I mean, far out, wouldn't it be a blast to have these bands go on tour together?

Well, it sounded cool at the time. When it came to executing the article, I found myself for the lack of time and commitment (especially because I've been spending so much time devoted to watching DVDs and reading nowadays).

I started doing research on utensil bands, and, of course, most of these bands refused to accommodate any requests that I made regarding correspondence.

Anyway, I have settled on focusing on these bands below. I present to you, the perfect Utensil bands!

My friend, Robin, told me that Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was the "best album of the year". That was in 2007.

Of course, with a recommendation like that, I had to check them out. At least give it a try, you know?

She's not wrong, but given the sheer amount of music released in '07, she can't be right either?

I will have to say that for an indie rock album, I did enjoy the various brass instruments thrown in there on "The Underdog". And I did like Britt Daniel's vocals, which sounds like a lazy Paul Westerberg.

They are not afraid of experimenting with unconventional noises either, like the piano-driven "The Ghost Of You Lingers" features weird loops and feedback, giving a sense of a spirit in the song.

Picking between two of the best song on Ga ("Eddie's Ragga" and "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"), I decided to go with the former.

It looks like this Texan band is playing mostly in California (they seem to really love the Fillmore):

Not quite acapella (there are actual music) and not quite glam, this is a Finnish pop band, consisting of two boys (Winston Chill and Miles Precious) and two girls (Chiq LaDesire and Angel d'Ville) and something called "The Greg".

Looking at their website, it looks like they've released two albums, but in fact they have over four albums, with the latest called Games We Play from 2007.

As a cover lover, I was drawn to their 2005's Cover to Cover, an all-covers album. Of course, I don't have any of their albums, so here's a video for for Fork's version of the Bon Jovi's classic, "You Give Love a Bad Name".

Mostly beats and electronic, Andersson does lend her vocals on 99% of their songs - at least from what I've heard on their 2006 album Silent Shout. If you happen to get the limited edition version of this album, it comes with a bonus live disc - featuring one of their best-known song, "Heartbeats" done live.

I will also mention that not only are they loved in the US by Pitchfork (they named Silent Shout best album of 2006), but also in their home country where they won six Swedish Grammies:

Artist of the Year

Composer of the year

Album

Producer

DVD

Group of the Year

What is amazing is that they were nominated for six - and had won all six!

It looked like it was a busy year for the duo in 2006 and 2007, but surprisingly, currently, the band is on a three-year hiatus as Olof is determined to make his DJ stuff as "Coolof".

Also from Sweden and also a duo, is the garagey/indie rock band, Spoonfork. Their 2008 debut album, All Is Well from Gourmé Records, is receiving rave reviews all across the board.

Spoonfork's biography lists that they started just last year by one-man-musician Oscar Lundin. I suppose it wasn't long before he recruited his friend, a "classical guitarist" named Adam Olson. Between the two of them, they create this kind of White Stripes/The Strokes sounding music, but with lots of bass and guitar riffs.

In true punk attitude, all their songs were recorded with one take, resulting in some raw rock and roll. This is what I like about talented bands, the ability to play and record something in one take. If there are any imperfections/mistakes, it only adds to the charm of the song.

Although, as I previously mentioned, these guys are from Sweden, Oscar Lundin's vocals styles sounds as if he's from Missippipi - so their songs tend to come off like southern rock.

Most of the songs I enjoyed aren't particularly radio friendly, especially the 9-minute epic "The Undertaker" and "Bustin' Heads for Dr Death" (both songs seem to be inspired by horror movies). The later song, "Dr Death" sounds as if it is actually two songs. It sounds to me like during recording, Lundin thought "fuck it, I'm going to continue playing the song and who knows where it's going to go!"

If you like what you heard, you can pick up their album on CD Baby and while you're at it, download their free The Zombie EP via Gourmé Records.

I saw my sister over the Thanksgiving holiday and we were talking about the first CD we bought. We've previously were both buying and sharing cassettes album and, according to my sister, our first CD was going to be special. We pooled our money together and we bought Information Society's Hack. I don't even think we even had a CD Player back then (as those were quite expensive in 1991).

In this entry, I'll just be talking about Hack, as Information Society's history is both long and rich.

Most people know Information Society through their hit song "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)" from their debut album (I say debut because Creatures of Influences seems more of a very long EP). That self-titled album sold very well, but my first album I bought was Hack on cassette, before replacing it with the CD version co-owned with my sister.

Hack remain one of my all-time favorite album. I know all the songs by heart and it was really the first album that introduced me to sampling and mashups. I can't even tell you how often I listened to this album non-stop throughout high school. I even spent hours reading and looking at the liner notes.

From the liner notes, I was able to tell that all the sampling and loop hack songs were by Think Tank. I've long thought that this was an independent DJ, but I found out that it's basically Paul Robb's alter ego.

Two singles were released from this album, Think and How Long - which I own both cassingles (I also have "Think" on Maxi-CD Single). "Now That I Have You" was considered for release, but only the 12" Promo exists. If you asked me, I would've chosen "Fire Tonight" or "Mirrorshade", as I felt these were stronger songs.

The entire album works as a gapless album, between each main song (usually written by Paul Robb) are Think Tank's samples. Kurt Harland did write about five songs on the album, but some of them seem to be more arranging and programming samples.

If you love 80s synth-pop songs, this is such a great album. It's pure pop, and closed with a wonderful instrumental called "Chemistry". For a long time, I ended most of my mixtapes with this song.

On the subject of the album being called Hack, here is an excerpt from Harland:

A great deal was made of the name, "HACK". We were using the name much more loosely than most people assumed. True, we were thinking of computer hacking, but we were also implying the idea of musical hacks, meaning, getting the job done efficiently and moving on. Or, as Jim liked to say, it meant that "we cut up meat!". Truth is, things like that rarely mean as much to the band as they do to reporters and fans.

The Jesus and Mary Chain: Barbed Wire Kisses by Zoë Howe (St Martin's Press)
The Scottish shoegazing / alternative band The Jesus and Mary Chain has a new book written by Zoë Howe called The Jesus and Mary Chain: Barbed Wire Kisses (named after their 1999 album) out today on St Martin's Press.

The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer (Grand Central Publishing)
With this upcoming sold out show at the Cedar Cultural Center on Sunday, November 16th, I see that it is essentially a book signing tour for her new book The Art of Asking.... however, knowing Palmer, I am pretty there will be some singing/dancing involved, as well as an appearance from Neil Gaiman and other special guests.

Brian Jones: The Making of the Rolling Stones by Paul Trynka (Viking)
The vast majority of the book is focused on Brian Jones and the early days of the Rolling Stones, like the book title suggest, but like many of you, I was more interested in his death - which happened less than a month after he was walked away from the band.

A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man by Holly George-Warren (Viking)
Fans searching for an account of the life of enigmatic and underappreciated singer/songwriter Alex Chilton need look no further; March 24th marks the release of “A Man Called Destruction” by Holly George-Warren, a thorough and highly enjoyable document of Chilton’s life and career.

Eminent Hipsters by Donald Fagen (Viking)
Eminent Hipsters is the new memoir by Donald Fagen, best known as the singer/songwriter of 70's jazz/rock band, Steely Dan.
I can't hear "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" without instantly being transported back to childhood memories of riding in the way, way back of my parent's station wagon, with the ol' Steely Dan cassette playing in the woodgrain dashboard.

Autobiography by Morrissey (Penguin Classics)
As a Morrissey fan, I should tell you that this is the first time Morrissey will tell his story in his own words. Previously official biography Landscapes of the Mind by David Bret was, how shall I say it, boring.

Stone Roses: War and Peace by Simon Spence (St. Martin's Griffin)
When I started reading War and Peace, I quickly realized how very little I knew about the Stone Roses. Most of my recollections of the band were through the NME, Melody Maker, and Select Magazines, which does not really paint a picture of how it was back then.

2015:
Since Select Magazine went away in 2000, Uncut Magazine took over as my favorite music magazine. In their latest issue, which came out in the stores in the UK this week (January 27th), they featured the 30th Anniversary of Meat is Murder with a The Smiths cover.